English name: Black Elder, Devilwood
Family: Caprifoliaceae
Botanical characteristic: A branched shrub or tree with a white stem, growing to a height of 6 m. The leaves are oddly pinnately compound, oppositely arranged. The white flowers form a pinnacle-shaped inflorescence. The fruit is a small drupe, black-purple in colour.
Microscopic drawing:
Distribution: It grows near fences, on the edge of forests, logging sites, and construction sites.
Drug: Sambuci flos, Sambuci fructus, Sambuci folium
Harvesting method: Freshly blooming flowers are collected in May and June, in dry weather. The inflorescence is also cut with a 1 cm long stem. The fruits are collected during August and September.
Drying: We dry the flowers in a thin layer in the shade, in a ventilated room. When artificially dried at a temperature of up to 45 °C. The fruits are dried in bundles, most often artificially.
Active substances: The flowers contain flavonoids such as rutin and isoquercitrin, but essential oils, tannins and organic acids (chlorogenic acid) are also present. Among the contents, traces of the cyanogenic glycoside, sambunigrin, may also be mentioned. Anthocyanins, essential oils, vitamins, organic acids and sugars are typical of the fruit.
Uses: Drinking elderflower tea has a melting effect, which is used in the treatment of fever and colds. The flowers promote increased urine production. The fruits are used exclusively in the cooked state and only in folk medicine, as a source of vitamins for colds or as a laxative.
Traditional method of use in indications determined solely on the basis of long-term use:
– alleviation of early symptoms of the common cold.
Selected herbal preparations: AGROKARPATY BLACK ELDER flower herbal tea 1×30 g, AGROKARPATY BLACK ELDER fruit herbal tea 1×30 g, AGROKARPATY COLD BLACK ELDER WITH LIP herbal tea 20×2 g, APOTHEKE TEA BREATHING WAYS AND SWEATING 20×1, 5 g, Alpikol syrup for immunity support with zinc 120 ml, CENTRUM IMUNITA cps with black elderberry extract 60 pcs, GENERICA Immune Akut sucking tablets tbl 30 pcs, LEROS Juice Black Elderberry 500 ml.